AS Level Geology is available as an enrichment course to Year 12 students who are interested. The course will not have as many lessons as a normal AS course, so those who study it will be expected to study in free lessons and in their own time. As such you should only take this course if you are prepared to make this commitment.
To support the students, materials for the whole AS course, including, movies, pictures, website links, resources, animations, forums, tutorials assessment tasks, will be available on this VLE.
There will be some practical lessons in laboratories and we will be runningfield coursesto a part of the UK with fascinating geology. More details will follow.
If you want to know more, explore the resources on this page of the VLE and take a look at some of what you will be studying, or see Mr Mothersole who will be pleased to tell you more.
Below is a link to the BGS 'Geology of Britain' viewer. You can view the geology any location within the UK down to a scale of 1:50 000. Pan and zoom to an area of interest, the Click on the map to show the details of the underlying bedrock and the superficial deposits. For example, at Wycombe High School, there is a bedrock of Seaford Chalk Formation and Newhaven Chalk Formation (part of the Upper Chalk) and superficial deposits of Clay-with-Flints (including clay, silt, sand and gravel).
Earth's Structure Earth's Structure and Composition
AS Unit F791: Global Tectonics
This unit provides students with a knowledge and understanding of the Earth, its structure and its place within the solar system, including earthquakes, their effects, the issues around predicting earthquakes and the evidence for plate tectonics. The material covered in this unit forms the basis for understanding the tectonic environments in which rocks are formed and geological structures develop.
1.1.1 An overview of planetary geology and ideas for the origin of the solar system (P2-3)
(a) You should be able to describe the overall structure of the solar system including gas giants and terrestrial planets with a dense inner core, and current theories of its origin and age.
(d) You should be able to describe the evidence for impact craters caused by asteroids and meteorites colliding with the Earth and other bodies in the solar system.
The tutorials below on absolute dating are for univserity students. They may be of interest to students who are also studying A-Level physics. You will not be asked examination questions on these.
1.1.2 Build up a cross-section knowledge of the internal structure of the Earth (P4-5)
(a) You should be able to state the depths of the main layers of the Earth: inner core, outer core, mantle, asthenosphere, continental crust and oceanic crust.
Inge Lehmann was a Danish seismologist. Her most famous achievement was the discovery of the inner and outer cores of the Earth through the reflection of seismic waves off those surfaces. She died in 1993 at the age of 105.
(c) You should be able to state the depth of the discontinuities: Lehmann, Gutenberg and Moho. Lable these three discontinuities on the diagram that you drew for The Earth's Interior Activityabove.
(e) You should be able to describe the probable composition of each of the layers of the Earth: inner core, outer core, mantle, asthenosphere, continental crust and oceanic crust.
Complete this short activity, comparing the density and mineral composition of four different rock types from different layers within the Earth.
1.1.3 Understand the asthenosphere and lithosphere and their role in plate tectonics (P6-7)
(a) You should be able to describe and explain the nature of the asthenosphere as a rheid, plastic layer with 1–5% partial melting. Describe how this layer can be identified using P and S waves and its role in plate tectonics.
1.1.4 Understand how the internal structure of the Earth can be inferred using direct evidence (P8-9)
(a) You should be able to explain how evidence from rocks seen in deep mines up to 5km below the surface or deep boreholes up to 13km below the surface can be used as evidence for the composition of the crust.
(b) You should be able to explain how rocks brought to the surface by volcanic activity – in kimberlite pipes as mantle xenoliths – provide evidence of mantle rocks.
(b)You should be able to explain how the properties of P and S waves result in shadow zones, which can be used to determine the state and depth of the inner and outer core of the Earth.
(c) You should be able to explain how the density of the whole Earth and the rocks at the surface can be used to infer the density of the core and mantle rocks.
(d) You should be able to explain how stony and iron nickel meteorites from within the solar system can be used to infer the composition of the mantle and core.
(b)You should be able to describe palaeomagnetism in rocks and magnetic reversals.
Some rocks contain a record of the direction of the Earth's magnetic field at the time of their formation, known as remanent magnetism. This is linked to ferromagnetism in some iron minerals and their Curie temperatures.
Palaeomagnetism can be used to determine changes of latitude as different continents moved through geological time, indicating continental drift. Ocean floor magnetic anomalies indicate sea floor spreading.
Make sure that you have written definitions of the terms highlighted in bold in your notes. Use the resources below to help you.
1.4.2 Understand how rocks are deformed by stress and undergo strain (P46-47)
(a) You should be able to define and describe stress and strain and how they affect rocks; explain how stress and strain vary due to temperature, confining pressure and time.
(b) You should be able to define tension,compression and shear forces and describe competent and incompetent rocks; explain how tension, compression and shear forces produce geological structures.
(b) You should be able to explain the origin and characteristics of tectonic joints: tension and cross joints, cooling joints in igneous rocks, unloading joints in batholiths.
(b) You should be able to describe and recognise: dip-slip faults (normal and reverse), graben (rift), horst and thrusts, strike-slip faults and transform faults; explain their formation and how they can be recognised in the field, on maps and in cross-sections.
1.4.5 Recognise and know about folds and the outcrop patterns associated with them (P54-59)
(a) You should be able to define and recognise fold characteristics: fold limbs, hinge, crest, trough, axial plane, axial plane trace, plunge, antiform and synform.
(b) describe and recognise symmetrical and asymmetrical anticlines, synclines, overfolds, recumbent folds, nappes, isoclinal folds, domes and basins; explain their formation and how they can be recognised in the field, on maps and in cross-sections.
1.4.6 Understand how cross-cutting structures can be used on maps and cross-sections (P60-61)
(a) You should be able to deduce the age relationships of geological structures using cross-cutting features of beds, faults, folds and unconformities to date them relative to each other.
(b) You should be able to interpret the types of faults and folds from outcrop patterns and determine upthrow and downthrow of faults using the relationships between faults, folds and beds.
(c) You should be able to interpret and analyse seismograms to show distance from epicentre and magnitude; use time/distance graphs to find the epicentre of an earthquake; use seismograms to demonstrate shadow zones.
1.2.5 Appreciate the social and economic effects of earthquake activity (P20-21)
(a) You should be able to describe the effects of earthquakes: the type of ground movement, damage to structures, liquefaction, landslips, tsunamis and aftershocks; describe the social and economic effects of earthquake activity on humans and the built environment.
1.2.6 Know about methods of earthquake prediction and their social consequences; know about measures designed to reduce the impact of the effects of earthquakes (P22-23)
(a) You should be able to describe and explain possible methods of earthquake prediction: seismic gap theory, detailed measurements of gases, changes in stress in rocks, changes in water levels in wells, changes in ground levels, magnetism and animal behaviour.
(c) You should be able to describe measures designed to reduce the impactof the effects of earthquakes: building construction codes to ensure strong foundations and reinforced structures, buildings with flexible structural supports, ground isolation systems using teflon or rubber pads or rollers; earthquake proofing mains gas, electricity and water supplies.
1.3.1 Know about the main features of the oceans and continents (P30-31)
(a) You should be able to describe the characteristic features of: the continental slope, ocean basins with abyssal plains, seamount, mid-ocean ridges and deep-ocean trenches.
1.3.2 Know about the evidence for the drift of continents (P24-25)
(a) You should be able to describe the evidence for the movement of continents over time using the fit of Africa and South America as part of Gondwanaland:
(i) jigsaw fit of the edges of continental shelves for a geographical fit; (ii) the distribution of specific rock types of the same age; (iii) the distribution of fold mountain chains; (iv) the distribution of fossils; (v) the distribution of glacial striations and tillites; (vi) palaeomagnetic evidence using polar wandering curves for the movement of continents.
1.3.3 Know about the evidence for sea floor spreading (P26-29)
(a) You should be able describe the evidence for the process of sea floor spreading;
(i) the distribution of mid-ocean ridges (MOR) and the depth of the ocean floor; (ii) high heat flow and volcanic activity at the MOR; (iii) gravity anomaly at the MOR and the pattern of magnetic anomalies; (iv) transform faults and the pattern of earthquakes;
(v) the age pattern and homogenous structure of the ocean crust and the age and distribution of sediment in deep ocean basins;
(vi) direct satellite measurements of the width of the oceans.
(b) You should be able to describe the distribution of shallow earthquakesin relation to: mid-ocean ridges, transform faults, major rift systems, deep-ocean trenches, fold mountains and subduction zones.
(c) You should be able to describe the similarities and differences between oceanic and continental plates in terms of thickness, density and average composition.
1.3.7 Know about the evidence for plates and plate boundaries and the theory of plate tectonics (P36-41)
(a) You should be able to describe divergent plate margins and the evidence for the plate boundary: mid-oceanic ridges, submarine volcanic activity, mafic magma, high heat flow, smokers, shallow focus earthquakes, transform faults.
(b) describe convergent plate margins involving oceanic plates and the evidence for the plate margin: deep-ocean trenches, earthquake foci along the inclined plane of a Benioff zone, heat flow anomalies, volcanic island arc and intermediate volcanic activity.
(c) describe convergent plate margins involving continental and oceanic plates and the evidence for the plate margin: deep-ocean trenches, earthquake foci along the inclined plane of a Benioff zone, heat flow anomalies, fold mountains, silicic and intermediate volcanic activity and batholiths.
(d) describe convergent plate margins involving only continental plates and the evidence for the plate boundary: shallow and intermediate focus earthquakes, batholiths, metamorphism and folded and faulted sediments in fold mountains.
(e) describe conservative plate margins where plates slide past each other and the evidence for the plate margin: shallow focus earthquakes and faulting.
1.3.8 Understand possible mechanisms for the movement of plates (P42-43)
(a) You should be able to explain how volcanic activity at ocean ridges may ‘push’ plates apart. Describe how gravity and differences in density may ‘pull’ plates apart.
(c) describe and explain how chains of hotspots and seamounts develop; explain the age of oceanic islands in terms of their movement over a hotspot and how they can be used to calculate the rate of sea floor spreading.
this VLE. 
Below is a link to the 
Earth's Structure
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